Farming

Harrison County High School student Ally Barnett recently returned home from Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders (IFAL). Barnett and 45 other high school students from around the state attended the five-day summer leadership conference, held June 23-27 at the University of Kentucky.
An identical IFAL conference was also held June 16-20 at Murray State University for an additional 45 students.

John W. McCauley, USDA Kentucky Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director, announces an extension of the FSA acreage reporting deadline. Farmers and landowners have an additional 18 calendar days to submit their annual report of acreage to their local FSA county office with the deadline extended from Monday, July 15, 2013, to Friday, Aug. 2, 2013. Only the FSA reporting deadline has been extended. The acreage reporting requirement for crop insurance has not changed and remains July 15.

By Gary Carter, Co. ext. agent
After the heavy rainfall of the past week I am sure most farmers have surveyed their crops. So far most reports seem to be, we got lucky compared to the surrounding counties. Rainfall seems to run from three-five inches in the three day period with a few spots receiving more.
What effects are showing? Tobacco seems to be the plant that shows the greatest damage. Drowned plants in low, poorly drained areas seems to be constant throughout. The crop also shows a very poor root system which is unable to pick up nutrients.

The farm is approximately 860 acres and is farmed by Chad Whitaker, Jarrod Walker, Addison Thomson, Megan Baxter, Kevin Farrell and Lucas Myers. The event was hosted by the Harrison County Extension Service, FSA, FFA students and the soil conservation district. The meal was provided by the Harrison County Beef Cattle Association.

I had picked loads of cherry tomatoes by this time last year.
The hot spring worked to the advantage of ripening tomatoes by the 4th of July.
This year has played out a little differently but the tomatoes don’t seem to mind; they look great, have generous fruit set and will be ripening soon enough.

I can hardly wait for this year’s first harvest of summer squash and it should be any day now.
There is fruit set and you know how quickly squash can mature.
Last year’s crop was not so robust because of the record heat, so I am optimistically counting on a bumper squash crop this year -- the weather is certainly on our side.
The pest that challenges most gardeners and their squash is the squash vine borer.

Lewis (Ben) Furnish Jr. of Harrison County, Ky., is a member of Class X of the Kentucky Agricultural Leadership Program (KALP).
KALP, housed in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment is an intensive two-year program designed for young agricultural producers and agribusiness individuals from Kentucky and Tennessee who want to be on the cutting edge of decisions that affect agriculture, rural communities and society.

Haley Dawn Fauste, a eighth grade student at Harrison County Middle School, has earned a position on the Kentucky state/provincial National Junior High rodeo team and will be traveling with fellow teammates to Gallup, N.M., June 23-29, to compete at the ninth annual National Junior High Finals Rodeo (NJHFR) in thebarrel racing, pole bending, team roping and ribbon roping goat tying competitions.

At the 2012 State Fair, the Harrison County Land Judging Team was named the 2012 KY State Land Judging Team.
The four members of that team are Joseph Bush, Justin Barnes, Tommy Vallandingham, and Austin Bradford.
Bush has been a member of the Land Judging Team for nine years and also earned the fourth highest individual score at the Kentucky state competition.
Barnes has been a member of the team for five years, Vallandingham a three-year member, and Bradford was competing for the first year, with all individuals receiving a blue ribbon.